Lesson#22

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Leviticus

September 21, 2015

Introduction

May 13, 2010

Leviticus Lesson #02

May 13, 2010

RETURN TO THE LIST OF LESSONS

LEVITICUS 21 and 22
Lesson #22
MAINTAIN HOLINESS

• Memory Verse: Lev 21:4
• Originally God planned that the whole nation of Israel would be the priests but because the worship of the golden calf at Mt. Sinai, God narrowed the priesthood to the tribe of Levi. During the Millennium when Christ establishes His kingdom on earth for 1000 years, then all the Jews will be the priests. (Exo 19:5-6)
  • The long delay in God’s plan is due to the sin of the people. A sinful people cannot minister righteousness to others.
  • In the Millennium, with Christ ruling on earth, all of the Jews will be born again believers in Jesus Christ and function as righteous priests.
• The three groups of God’s family in the Millennium and in eternity:

 

• =1=

 

The raptured (resurrected) believers that make up the church of Jesus Christ in the New Jerusalem.

 

• =2=

 

The nation of Israel reaping the fulfilled prophecies given to Abraham and functioning as priests for Jesus Christ.
• They are the Old Testament resurrected saints.
• They are the Jews that survive the Battle of Armageddon and accept Jesus Christ at His coming.

 

• =3=

 

The saved gentiles
• They are the gentiles that survive the Tribulation period and the battle of Armageddon having received Christ during the Tribulation period.
• In the book of Leviticus, God has emphasized the righteousness of the priesthood for the purpose of impressing upon His people the importance of dealing honestly with sin.
  • How does one deal honestly with sin?
    • A person must first see sin from God’s perspective.
    • Then one must deal with it in the way that God has provided.
• Leviticus 21 and 22 deal with a holy priesthood.
  • For Israel, the priests were the leaders of the people:
    • They taught the people the word of God.
    • They offered sacrifices on behalf of the people.
    • They determined the will of God for the people.
    • They were in charge of worship.
    • They were to be the spiritual example of holiness before the people.
  • The New Testament believer in Jesus Christ is to be the New Testament priest.
  • Read 1Pet 2:9-10
  • Read 1Pet 4:8-11
• Read Lev 21:1-15 To maintain holiness
  • Periodically through this chapter and the next there is a recurring phrase with slight variety, “I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” (Lev 21:8, 15, 23 and Lev 22:9, 16, 22)
  • To maintain holiness, God tells his Old Testament people that the priests must not become contaminated, or spiritually unclean.
  • These are the laws to keep the priesthood holy.
    • =1= The priests must not touch anything dead except for the death of their close relatives.
      • Through the Old Testament and into the New Testament mourning for the dead had become an art. There were professional mourners that would dress appropriately and mourn and cry loudly at a funeral. The profession developed for those who wished to avoid the ceremonial contamination of death.
      • Cleansing from ceremonial contamination was time consuming and took people away from their job so the practical aspect of hired mourners became an accepted profession.
    • Why did death defile a person?
      • Death is the result of sin.
      • To impress upon them the relationship between sin and death, they had to act out these laws that separated a priest from anything dead.
        • Jesus raised Lazareth from the dead to exhibit His authority over death.
        • The New Testament priest (the believer in Jesus Christ) must maintain a holy lifestyle to be able to minister life to other people.
      • The qualifications of a high priest were even more strict. They could not attend the funeral of a close relative because the anointing was on their head. (10-12)
        • The high priest was to be totally dedicated to serving God.
          • The high priest wore a crown marked “holiness to the Lord”.
          • This crown reminded him continually of his calling and high position.
        • The high priest was not to tear his clothes in an act of mourning.
          • The tearing of one’s clothes was a physical act to represent extreme sadness at the time of death or at some terrible event.
          • In Mat 26:65 the high priest tore his clothes to display his disgust with Jesus because he claimed to be God. This action was a violation of the Law.
        • Jesus Christ is our High Priest today. He is totally dedicated to serving God and never leaves His work.

 

• =2=

 

The priests must not mourn for the dead the way the pagan religions practiced mourning. (5)
• Even the Christian funeral in this New Testament period of time should be something that speaks of the person’s faith and eternal hope.
• In the same way that a believer’s life should be his testimony for Jesus Christ, his death should also be a testimony of the fact that Jesus Christ was his purpose for living and is his eternal destination.

 

• =3=

 

Neither the priests or the high priest shall marry a prostitute, a divorced woman, or a profane woman (7-8, 13-15), or permit the daughter of a priest or a high priest to become a prostitute (9).
• In the New Testament church, the requirement of a church leader is that he must rule his family well or he disqualifies himself from ministry. (1Tim 3:5)
• God has chosen a chaste bride to represent His relationship to the church of the New Testament. (Eph 5:26-27)
• This Old Testament law was to demonstrate that God is a jealous God. He will not share his people with religious prostitutes, with immoral sexual behavior, or with idolatry (spiritual prostitution) or false religions.
• The priesthood was passed from father to eldest son. Therefore, the high priest was permitted to marry only a virgin.
• God told the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute. (Hos 1:2) That was in direct violation of the Law of Moses. Why would God do that?
  • Hosea was a prophet, not a priest. A prophet’s life was to act out spiritual truths.
  • Israel had already violated this law many times over. God wanted to demonstrate to His people their spiritual condition. As they looked at Hosea and his family, they saw their own spiritual condition of disobedience to God.
• Read Lev 21:16-21 Disqualifications for priests
  • If you were to read this list in a church today as disqualifications of a pastor, you would get all kinds of objections and law suits from organizations that uphold the rights of the disabled.
    • We must remember that we are using the book of Leviticus to gain spiritual truth and to gain understanding of these truths from God’s perspective.
    • God is not prejudiced against those that have disabilities. God is a just God, and physical disabilities are not the result of personal sin, as a general rule.
      • Read Joh 9:1-3
  • What is the spiritual truth in this law that prohibits the physically deformed from being priests?
    • In the same way that the Israelites had to bring a perfect animal without deformity as an animal sacrifice, the priest and the high priest must be without any form of physical disability, even so much as a flat nose.
      • Remember that the perfect animal sacrifice represented Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
      • In the same way, the perfect high priest represents Jesus Christ, our most perfect High Priest.
    • In this church age of grace today, Jesus Christ functions as our High Priest. (Heb 7:26 Heb 8:1-2 Heb 8:6)
      • He represents us before God.
      • He intercedes for us before God.
      • He fights the battles against our adversary, the devil, on our behalf.
      • He makes sure that all of God’s blessings that He purchases for us actually come to us.
      • He makes sure that the sovereignty of God surrounds us with guidance and protection continually.
      • He makes sure that the believer in Jesus Christ actually receives eternal life based on the new covenant that God made through the blood of Jesus Christ.
  • Even though those physically unfit were forbidden to serve as priests, they could still join in fellowship and serve God in other ways.
    • Other pagan religions of the time of the Old Testament did not permit the physically handicapped to have fellowship. These people were discriminated against and relegated to the garbage dump of society.
    • In God’s economy, there is love and care for those who are weak, poor, and deformed in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Of course, the exception was the leper as we have already discussed.
• Read Lev 22:1-2
  • Chapter 22 is somewhat repetitious of points we have already discussed in Leviticus.
    • It is an emphasis on separating holy things from unholy things. It means to treat the things of God with respect.
      • We have learned in this book that this separation of clean and unclean, holy from unholy, acceptable and unacceptable only points to the fact that man tends to mix the two.
      • That which is wrong or sin in God’s eyes, man rationalizes so as to make evil appear as good.
        • In this way man gradually blinds himself to the truth of God’s perspective. He exchanges God’s world view for man’s world view.
        • We have already seen that spiritual blindness is a gradual process (Rom 1:19-32):
          • =1= Man does not give thanks and glory to God.
          • =2= Man replaces God with something else (idolatry).
          • =3= Man hardens his heart against God.
          • =4= Man’s tendency to sin (the sin nature) rules his life in place of God.
          • =5= Man enters the slippery slide into depravity and all sorts of gross sin by means of rationalization.
          • =6- Man denies that there is evil in the world because he can no longer distinguish between good and evil.
  • Important concepts in this chapter:
    • The priests and the people were to maintain holiness:
      • –in the home.
      • –in their diet.
      • –in the workplace.
      • –in their relationships.
      • –in their worship.
    • Holiness was to be their testimony to the world:
      • –as individual people.
      • –as a nation chosen by God to be the model to the world.
      • –as a congregation in worship of God.
    • The priests were to avoid an attitude of professionalism that develops when something is done habitually without thought or feeling. The priest was not to lose his passion for his work or his love for God and the people. This attitude of carless professionalism would demonstrate itself in various ways:
      • Unclean priests (22:3-9)
      • Unqualified guests (22:10-16)
        • The priests were not to share with others the parts of the offerings designated for the priests and their families to eat.
      • Unacceptable sacrifices (22:17-33)
      • This unholy character is exactly what the priesthood had become when Jesus came on the scene. He called them hypocrites.
• Application:
  • The New Testament priest must maintain his passion for Christ and his love for God and the people. The greatest protection against spiritual hypocrisy is this:
    • Having a tender conscience where you have the fear of the Lord. (2Cor 1:12; 4:2; 5:11)
    • This prevents a gradual spiritual darkness where the conscience is seared. (Tit 1:15 1Tim 4:2)
    • The seared conscience leads to an evil conscience. (Heb 10:22)
  • Remember the poem:
    • The gospel is written a chapter a day,
    • By the deeds that you do and the words that you say.
    • Men read what you say whether faithless or true.
    • Say! What is the gospel according to you?

Homework
Leviticus 23:1-22
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Lev 21 and 22
  • In considering your own life style and your own life priorities, what things in your life does the Holy Spirit want you to eliminate so as to make your testimony one of holiness?

 

• Preparation for Lev 23:1-22
• Read Lev 23:1-22

Memory Verse: Mat 13:16